And hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to another AP World History Modern Amsco reading, where today we are reading chapter 1.7, comparison to the period from 1200 to 1450. Quote, The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion, and men who have religion and no wit. End quote. Abin Sina, Avientra, 1980-1037, Persian philosopher and physician.
Essential question. In what ways was the process of state building in various parts of the world between 1200 and 1450 similar and different? Between 1200 and 1450, states in core areas of civilization grew larger while smaller states declined.
In this way, much of the world followed the same trend of building more centralized, more powerful states. However, the process varied from place to place. In most of Asia, the military strength of the Mongols created the largest land-based empire in world history. In West Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, the religion of Islam was a key part of state building.
In Europe, trade both internal and with the more advanced civilizations of the Middle East had greater impact. State Building and New Empires As stronger, more centralized states rose, the influence of nomadic societies began to wane by the 15th century. During this period, new empires emerged and states around the world expanded. The Song Dynasty in China continued a long period of technological and cultural progress. The avacid caliphate in the Middle East was fragmented by invaders and shifts in trade.
Following it, new Muslim states arose in Africa, the Middle East, and Spain. In South and Southeast Asia, the Chola Empire and Vijayangar King Empire used trade to build strong states, while the Delhi Sultanate in Northern India was more land-based. In Africa, the rulers of Mali created an empire that was bigger and more centrally administrated than the Empire of Gahana that preceded it. In the Americas, The Aztecs formed a tributary empire in Mesoamerica that relied on a strong military. The Inca Empire in the Andean region used the elaborate Mita system as a way to support state building.
In contrast, most of the Americas lacked centralized states. In Europe, feudal ties declined in importance as centralized states developed. This development was clearer in the Western European kingdoms of England and France than in Eastern Europe.
Japan, unlike most states, became more decentralized and feudal. The Role of Religion in State Building One similarity in much of the world was that religion was a vital part of state building. To help unite a diverse population, empires and states often turned to religion to strengthen political control over their territory. One excellent example of how religion worked with state building was in the Islamic world.
Through the unifying power of shared beliefs and a use of the common language of Arabic, Islam provided the basis for the legitimacy of rulers from West Africa to Southeast Asia, China, and East Asia. Other states also were strengthened by religion. In China, the Confucian belief system was closely tied to civil service. The Song Dynasty relied on Confucian scholars to run a powerful enduring bureaucracy.
No other state had such a well-established and extensive system for conducting government affairs across such a large territory. The ability to implement laws and carry out imperial edicts was part of the key part of state building in China. Neo-Confucianism, see topic 1.1 or one of the previous videos in this playlist, spread to Korea and Japan, allowing rulers in these East Asian regions to justify and consolidate their political power as well. Similarly, rulers in South and Southeast Asia relied on Hinduism and Buddhism to aid them in strengthening their states.
Europe In Europe, the relationship between Roman Catholic Church and state building was somewhat different than in most of Eurasia. At times, the church was part of the state building process. However, because European states were so weak, After most of the middle ages, the church had provided an alternative structure for organizing society.
Then, between 1200 and 1450, as more powerful states emerged in France and the Holy Roman Empire, the church sometimes became a rival power. Diffusion of Religion The spread of major religions during this time period resulted in the influence of religion over wide areas. Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity all encouraged their followers to convert non-believers.
Therefore, missionary activity was an important factor in the decline in the practice of local religions in places such as sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. In South Asia, converts to Islam increased partly as a result of military invasions by Islamic armies from Central Asia. However, Hinduism remained the predominant religion in South Asia. setting the stage for intermittent periods of conflict and tolerance between followers of Islam and Hinduism on the subcontinent. Trade networks in the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, East and Central Asia, and across the Sahara Desert helped to spread religions as commercial activity increased.
State building through trade Fueled by increased trade, cross-cultural exchanges of technology and innovation increased. Innovations in crop production, such as Champa rice that spread from Vietnam to China, helped the Song dynasty feed and sustain a growing population. The resulting effect, a larger and more urban citizenship, supported the development of China's manufacturing capability, the largest in the world at the time. Porcelain, silk, steel, and iron production all increased during this time.
Together, these changes built the Song into the strongest state in the in China since the time of the Han a millennium earlier. Paper manufacturing invented in China in the 2nd century BCE made its way across Eurasia, reaching Europe around the 13th century. The resulting printed material led to increased literacy rates across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The focus on intellectual thought and learning led to advances in mathematics and medicine. especially in Islamic centers of learning such as the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.
Europe benefited from exchanges with the Middle East and through it with the rest of Asia. Not all contact between Europe and Asia was peaceful. Muslims had conquered Spain by force in the 8th century, and Christian crusaders attempted to seize lands they considered holy in the Middle East beginning around 11,000.
The Mongols fostered the transfer of knowledge, but only after they cared about brutal conquest. All of these contacts with Asia contributed to state building in Europe. Between 1200 and 1450, the process was small and slow, held back by the manorial system and serfdom, but it was noticeable. After 1450, state building would increase in speed and significance in Europe. The Impact of Nomadic Peoples Nomadic peoples played a key role in the process of state building between 1200 and 1450. The Mongols, a pastoral people from the steppes of Central Asia, ruled over significant areas of Asia and Eastern Europe during the 13th century.
For more on the Mongols, see topic 2.2 or another video on my channel in another playlist. The Political Stability resulting from Mongol dominance allowed trade across Eurasia to greatly expand. Cross-cultural interactions and transfers intensified in some of the first direct contacts between Europe and China since the classical period occurred, also facilitated by Mongol rule.
Similar to the Mongols, Turkish peoples, also from the Central Asian steppes, increased their dominance over large land-based empires in the Eastern Mediterranean, Persia, and South Asia. that lasted well past 1450. However, unlike the Mongols, who built their empire initially as a coordinated campaign by unified Mongol clans, different Turkish groups built separate empires. The Seljuk and Ottoman Turks became dominant forces in the Mediterranean region, while another Turkish group established an empire located in Persia and the surrounding territories. The creation of these empires would be among the last major impacts of the interaction.
between settled and nomadic peoples. The role of nomads in commerce and cross-cultural exchange diminished as they were replaced by organized groups of merchants and trading companies. Patriarchy and Religion Social organization in most cultures remained patriarchal. However, cultures varied. While religion often reinforced the power of men, its record was mixed.
For example, convent life for Christians in Europe and enchanced in Buddhist religious communities in South Asia provided women with opportunities for learning and leadership. In contrast, in China, women lost some independence as the custom of foot binding became more common. And as you can see here, the last thing of the chapter is a chart showing the titled the four types of state building 1200 to 1450 with processes, descriptions, and examples. Let's start off with the process of emergence of new states. State arise in land once controlled by another empire.
Mameluke Empire, formerly Abbasid territory. Seljuk Empire, formerly Abbasid territory. And Delhi Sultanate, formerly Gupta Territory. Revival of former empires. New leadership continues or rebuilds a previous empire with some innovations.
Song Dynasty, based on the Han Dynasty. Mali Empire, based on the Gahanna Kingdom. Holy Roman Empire, based on the Roman Empire. Synthesis of different traditions. is a process.
Description, a state adapts foreign ideas to local conditions. Examples, Japan, China-Japanese, Delhi Sultanate, Islamic and Hindu, and then Neo-Confucianism. Process, expansion in scope. Description, an existing state expands its influence through conquest, trade, or other means. Examples, Aztecs in Mesoamerica, Incas in South America.
City-States in East Africa, and then City-States in South East Africa, or Asia. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, that seems to be it for chapter 1.7, where honestly, there certainly was a lot going on. Like a lot, for example, was the major theme of decentralization and being unorganized and not connected whatsoever. Where, if anything, there was some minor connectivity, but not all too much.
However, another thing I wanted to go over for chapter one was also that, reading over the chapter again, it did seem fairly interesting. Like how, for example, there was a bit of a heavy use on more physical force. Meanwhile, later in history, there'd be a bit more of a domestic thought. Like, for example, things wouldn't be as hot as they were traded through things like the Cold War. Where in the Cold War, which I'll cover in another video, in another playlist, or later down the line, You can actually see that in the Cold War, it was never hot, as it's called, because of the fact that there was no direct violence between the US and the USSR, or the Soviet Union.
Which, in some degrees, this can either be a good or bad thing. Bad because of the reasons why it was cold, in other words, because of the massive amount of nuclear weapons we had, and that the Russians had, but also because of the fact that It's good because it demonstrated that humanity can go at least some time without war, because one common strand is always bloodshed and violence throughout history. Not to sound negative or anything, but that's something that you can actually see happening a lot.
Like for example, there's always going to be a war in one time period, because let's say the 18th century, there was still war. The 19th century... there was war.
20th century, there was World War I, World War II, and also in the 21st century, there is war still. Which again, war is still a big key player in a lot of things, including state building and development. However, it is also the cause, or at least affected, by numerous other things, like what will be covered later down the line being industrialization.
And however, there was also a lot more things that affected it, but We'll see these thoughts for another video. However, ladies and gentlemen, I really hope you enjoyed the video. Please, also if you would like, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button if you would like.
You can always unsubscribe if it becomes an inconvenience, or you can always hit the notification bell to stay up to date on when I post more content. And however, this concludes Unit 1 and Chapter 1.7. If you would like to check out the rest of my AP World History Modern Amsco readings, you can go to the playlist and check out another one.
We have a lot of other readings, including units 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way up to 9, and also covering a wide array of units. So remember ladies and gentlemen, stay safe, stay happy, and remember, stay entertained.